The Fellowship Residency Program has introduced me to the idea of reading commentaries alongside scripture. By next August, I will have read through the entire Bible as well as The King in His Beauty, our selected commentary.
As I am reading, I am writing a little bit about each of the books of the Bible so you and I can have a more thorough understanding of the scriptures. I invite you to follow along with me as we learn the Bible in its entirety from Genesis to Revelation. This does NOT encompass the entire book, but it is a good place to start. I encourage you to read for yourself and begin your own Biblical journal along the way.
Creation - Genesis opens up with no information about what took place before creation began. It starts by telling us that God created the Heavens and the Earth. It is made clear that creation exists to praise and glorify the creator, God, and that God is sovereign over all His creation. God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all played a role in creation. The Spirit “hovered over the waters (Gen 1:2)” and the son’s role is clear as “‘all things were made’ by the one who is the ‘Word’” (John 1:2). On the sixth day, humans are then created to bear the image of God and rule over the rest of God’s Creation for His glory and honor and under His will. The Garden of Eden is shown to have many parallels with the temple/tabernacle which signifies God’s intention for the world to become his dwelling place. Finally, God calls Adam and Eve to be obedient to Him which resembles the Mosaic covenant
The Fall and The Flood – The complete and utter disobedience to God’s commands is shown simplistically in the inability for Adam and Eve to maintain a holy garden for God and the act of eating the Forbidden Fruit. Their desire to be God led them astray and the consequence of the first sin not only affected them, but all of God’s creation. Even in the midst of sin taking over and separating them from God, God offers them hope that one day victory over the serpent will come through the offspring of Adam and Eve and “blesses” them with His promise (an important theme of Genesis). In the next story of Genesis, Cain and Abel, we see that God cares more about obedience from the heart and of faith as opposed to “mechanical” obedience out of obligation. Even though Cain disobeyed God, God marks Cain for protection as an act of His mercy and grace. Evil continues to spread, and, “The riches and beauty of human culture may be dazzling so that the evil perpetrated is hidden from perception.” As evil continues to spread, God decides to enact his judgment and destruction on all of mankind but protects Noah and his family from harm as he is a man of faith and is an offspring of Cain. God then makes a promise to Noah and his family that he will not destroy the Earth by water again and uses the rainbow as a symbol of his covenant promise. After the flood, we see parallels to the “new creation” for Noah’s family. However, this creation is still marked with sin and God’s destruction has not removed sin from the world.
Babel and Abraham- Almost immediately, sin begins to take over as the Tower of Babel is erected to make a name for itself instead of making a name for the Lord our God. God punishes them by making many languages and creating mass confusion leading many to question if God’s graciousness has been depleted. That belief is quickly nullified by the story of Abram. God gracefully removes Abraham from the worldly harm, and Abraham responds with faith and obedience. However, it is made clear that Abraham is right before God as a result of his faith and God’s grace and not as a result of his good works (Rom 4 and Gal 3). The command and “blessing” of land (Canaan), children (Isaac), and dominion originally given to Adam is now made as a covenant promise to Abraham (and ultimately is intended for all God’s people). This promise was in some ways dependent on people’s obedience to God. However, in Gen 15, the covenant ritual signified that the promise would be fulfilled by the Grace of God and He would see it though regardless of their obedience to Him. The fulfillment of the promise is shown early on in dramatic ways that can only be explained by God. 1. Returning Sarah to Abraham, 2. Allowing children at their old age, 3. Commanding Abraham to kill the son by which the promise is to be fulfilled. Due to Abraham’s obedience, God spares Isaac and has a ram sacrificed in his place. This gracious act foreshadows the ultimate sacrifice of Christ in place of us.
The Promise for New Generation – Again we see the Lord intervene to fulfill the promise of offspring for Isaac and Rebekah. In spite of Jacob and Rebekah’s deceptive scheme, God grants Jacob Esau’s birthright AND blessing and continues gracefully fulfilling his promise. His promise extends to all 12 of Jacob’s children as they will represent the 12 tribes of Israel. Jacob wrestles with God and is given the name Israel to signify that he will be God’s warrior. Although two of Israel’s sons (Simeon and Levi) intermarry, God’s grace is upon the family and continuously protects them from danger.
Judah and Joseph – We find out later that the triumph over the serpent will come from Judah’s family even though he threatens the prosperity of the line. Joseph’s storyline continues to highlight that Abraham’s offspring are not morally set apart. They are just as susceptible to sin as the rest of humanity, but they have been protected by the promise of God. The serpent’s children (Egyptians) would play a role in Israel’s survival and Joseph would keep his line alive through the famine of Egypt at the hand of God. Genesis concludes with Joseph dying just after reminding the Israelites to return to the land of Canaan. “Genesis teaches that the kingdom will come, for ultimately it depends upon the Lord. It will be realized through his promise rather than human virtue.”